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LATIN PRONUNCIATION. 






CAMBRIDGE: 
1871. 

Entered according to Ac t of Congress, In the year 1871, by Gborqe M Ljjn, 

in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 






AN ir 

ELEMENTARY LATIN GRAMMAR, 

BASED ON THE LATEST TEXTS AND GRAMMATI- 
CAL STUDIES. 

By GEORGE M. LANE, 

POPE PROFESSOR OF LATIN IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 



Will be ready, it is expected, in the Autumn of 1872. 



LATIN PRONUNCIATION. 



11 Ego sic scribendam quidque judico, quomodo sonat. Hie enim 
est usus litterarum, ut custodiant voces et velut depositum reddant 
legentibus." Quintil. 1, 7, 30. 

u A liter scribere et aliter pronuntiare vecordis est." Papirianus 
ap. Cassiodor., p. 2292, », P. 

The exact Pronunciation of the Romans 
cannot of course now be known. 

The following may be regarded as a 
close approximation. 

VOWELS AND DIPHTHONGS. 

Vowels. 

Short. 



Long. 
a as in father. 
e as in French fete. 
i as in machine. 
O as in tone, 
U as in rule. 



a as in the first syllable of papa. 
e as a in desperate. 
i as e in report. 
O as in domestic. 
U as in put. 



In a syllable long by position merely, the vowel has the short 
sound : e. g. nux as in put, lux as in rule. 

Note 1. For the Parasitic u after g, q, and s, see those letters. 
Note 2. The Greek vowel y (v) is pronounced like the German u, 
French u. 

Note 3. An intermediate sound between u and i, perhaps not un- 



4 LATIN PRONUNCIATION. 

like Greek v (" medius quidam u et i litterae sonus: " QuintiL 1, 4, 
8,) occurs in many real Latin words in short syllables, as in opt^mus, 
dec^mus, before m and Labials. Sometimes it is written u, some- 
times i ; e. g. original lubet changes to libet. 



Diphthongs. 

"Aifpdoyyot Xeyovrat, STtscSyj ex 8vo <p66y- 
ycov ovvLGVavtai ' cpdoyyot 8s xa^ovvrat xard 
/.lovGlxov Xoyov rd ypa^nara" Belcher's An- 
ecd. p. 803, 6 : " diphthongi autem dicuntur, quod 
binos pht bongos, hoc est voces, comprehen- 
dunt. nam singulae vocales suas voces habent." 
(Pri%cian. I. p. 37, 13 , Hertz.*) 

ae (originally written ai) like the English word ay. 

Note. As early as the times of Lucilius (died 103 B. C.) and Varro 
(died about 27 B. C.) the diphthong ae was degraded to a mere e in 
Vulgar Latin : e. g. edus, Cecilius, pretor, for haedus, Caecilius, praetor. 
This pronunciation began to creep into real Latin under the early 
emperors, and became the prevalent pronunciation in the Third Cen- 
tury A. D. 

ail like ow in howl. 

oe (originally written oi) like oi in spoil. 

ei as in eight, with a little exaggeration of the English sound ee 
at the end. So hex, oiei. 

Notr. Such words as plebejus, Pompejus, etc., though often writ- 
ten plebeius, etc., do not belong here. 

eu like eh-oo rapidly pronounced; uncommon: occurs in interjec- 
tions, as theu, lieu, he.us, in compounds ceu, neu, sen (for ceve, etc.), 
neuter, and in Greek words. 

ui like the English we J found only in hui and in cui and huic for 
quoi and hoic. 



LATIN PRONUNCIATION. 5 

CONSONANTS. 

Gutturals, k as in English ; c like k before all vowels. 

11 K. in nullis verbis utendum puto nisi quae significat, eliam ut sola 
ponatur. hoc eo non omisi, quod quidam earn, quotiens a sequatur, 
neeessariam credunt, cum sit c littera, quae ad oinnis vocalis vim 
suam perferat." Quintil. 1, 7, 10. 

" K enim et q, quamvis figura et nomine videantur aliquam habere 
differentiam, cumc tamen eandem tam in sono vocum quam in metro 
potestatem continent." Priscian. I. p. 12, 5 , Hertz. 

Note 1. When the combination -ci- is followed by a vowel, the 
i has a natural tendency toward the sound of i consonans or j, 
(English y ) ; thus conditio easily runs into the sound condicjn, like the 
English mispronunciation of kyind for kind. In the course of time 
-cj- was again confused with -tj-. But in the literary period the 
distinction between -ci- and -ti- was rigidly adhered to: thus al- 
ways conditio, never conditio, always contio, never concio. The oldest 
example of -ti- for -ci- dates 192-211 A. D., when the corruption 
tribunitivs is found for tribunicius. 

Note 2. At a very late period, beginning about the Sixth Cen- 
tury A. D., c was regularly assibilated before e and i: e.g. incitamento 
is written intcitamento. 

g before a O U as in garden ; before e i y as in get. 

Note, g is sometimes followed by a parasitic u; " praeponitur u 
amittenti vim literae: " Priscian. I. p. 12, 13 , Hertz-, e. g. anguis like 
the English anguish. See q and s Note. 

q and li as in English. 

Note, q is sometimes a mere substitute for c before a single u; e. 
g. pequnia, qura, qum, for pecunia, cura, cum. Almost always, 
however, it is followed by a parasitic u, a combination equivalent to 
the English qu. Priscian, I. p. 7, 19 , Hertz, distinguishes two shades 
of this faint vanishing u: "u autem, quamvis contractum, eundem 
tamen [hoc est y] sonum habet inter q et e vel i vel ae [ ? ] diphthon- 
gum positum, ut ' que ', ■ quis ', ' quae ', [ ? ] nee non inter g et easdem 
vocale3, cum in una syllaba sic invenitur, ut ' pingue ', 'sanguis', 



6 LATIN PRONUNCIATION. 

'linguae' [? ]." That is gu and qu when followed by a and o have 
more the sound of u (English oo) as in quote ; when followed by e 
and i more the sound of ii as in quit. This subtle distinction, 
while founded on physiological and phonetic necessity, is of no 
practical moment, as the combinations will be instinctively pro- 
nounced correctly. Priscian's statement about ae has been queried 
in the quotation above, and is to be explained by the mispronuncia- 
tion of ae in his day (Vlth Cent.) like e. See ae. 

Labials, p, h, and f as in English. 

"Non fixis labris est pronuntianda f, quomodo ph, atque hoc 
solum interest: " Priscian. I. p. 12, i, Hertz; " f inter discrimina 
dentium efflanda est: " Quintil. 12, 10, 29. 

Dentals, t as in time ; d like the English d. 

Note. Long after the literary period -ti- followed by a vowel, was 
corrupted in sound to-tchi-(as in church) or-tsi-, and branches 
from this into various modifications of sound in the modern lan- 
guages. The combination ts was odious to the Roman ear, and ex- 
cept in a loose compound, like etsi 1 avoided : e. g. possum for potsum. 

Liquids. 1, r, m, and n ordinarily as in English. 

Note 1. The Romans distinguished three sounds of 1: "Tripli- 
cem, ut Plinio videtur, sonum habet: exilem, quando geminatur se- 
cundo loco posita, ut ' ille ', ' Metellus ' ; plenum, quando finit nomina 
vel syllabas, et quando aliquam habet ante se in eadem syllaba con- 
sonantem, ut'sol', 'silva', 'flavus', v clarus '; medium in aliis ut 
1 lectum ', ' lectus '." Priscian. I. p. 29, 8 , Eeriz. 

Note 2. m at the end of a word has a weak nasal sound. " Quo- 
tiens ultima est et vocalem verbi sequentis ita contingit, ut in earn 
transire possit, etiamsi scribitur, tamen parum exprimitur, ut * mul- 
tum ille' et 'quantum erat', adeo ut paene cujusdam novae litterae 
sonum reddat. neque enim eximitur, sed obscuratur et tantum in 
hoc aliqua inter duas vocales velut nota est, ne ipsae coeant." 
Quintil 9, 4, 40. " Pleraque nos ilia quasi mugiente m littera cludi- 
mus." Idem, 12, 10, 31. 

" M obscurum in extremitate dictionum sonat, ut ' templum ', aper- 
turn in principio, ut 'magnus', mediocre in mediis, ut * umbra'." 
Priscian. I. p. 29, I 5 , Hertz. 



LATIN PRONUNCIATION. 7 

Note 3. n adulterinum. n before a guttural (naturally also 
x = cs) assimilates to the guttural sound: e. g. anceps as in ankle^ 
anguis as in anguish, inquiro as in inkwiper, anxius as in anxious. 

Notk 4. n before s has an indistinct sound and is often dropped 
both in writing and in pronunciation : e. g. deciens and decies, for- 
monsus and Jbrmosus. (In a coin of the age of Caesar the sign : is 
used for this indistinct n, PARE:S for PARENS.) 

Sibilants. S as in sin ; x as in expect ; the Greek letter z 
(0, like the English z. 

Note 1. At the end of a word s is pronounced faintly when it fol- 
lows a short vowel. 

Note 2. The beginner should avoid the sound of z given to s at 
the end of English words after b, e, n, and r: e. g. urbs not as in 
rubs, urbes not as in breezes, amans not as mpans, pars not as in stars. 

Note 3. s is sometimes followed by a parasitic u before a and e; 
suaviSj suetus, as sw in English sweet. 

Semivowels, i consonans and u consonans (j and 
V) like a consonantal i and u, namely, as y and w. 



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